The loss of, or poor, erectile capability and lubrication, of different origin and intensity, is a very serious problem in an increasingly larger number of women, with unfavourable effects on couple relations. A sense of frustration, with a tendency to stop sexual intercourses, affects a large number of women, whether in young age or after the menopause. These problems, which were ignored until a few decades ago for cultural, religious or other reasons, are now discussed with the family doctor both thanks to the advent of women emancipation and to the introduction of vasoactive substances in the treatment of male impotence.
The interest of endocrinologists, gynecologists and sexologists for female sexual dysfunction is justified by the high demand for drugs or alternative aids. The great difficulties to solve these problems in this approach consist in the lack of suitable markers capable of differentiating the dysfunctions, or the lack of diagnostic references capable of distinguishing a frequently psychic dysfunction from a real disease. A number of patients often undergo non-validated diagnostic procedures and receive generic pharmacological treatments that are useful for other diseases rather than for these dysfunctions. Very little research has been until now carried out to investigate the biochemical processes and hormonal relations linked to the onset of orgasm. Sexual activity is linked to different cognitive, emotional and, finally, organic factors. None of these parameters, investigated separately, has proved to be exhaustive, and so their combination has to be submitted to careful examination to find useful products. After the discovery of the male functional mechanisms, linked to the vascular component, research turned to this direction also in women. The locoregional microcirculation was chosen as the evaluation criterion in consideration of the extreme importance of this parameter for a satisfactory sexual life.
It was surprising to find that, contrary to man, the substances affecting vasomotion alone, as well as phosphodiesterase inhibitors, are not sufficient to normalize the sexual intercourse in women, as it involves secretive problems the do not depend on the erectile function of the sexual organs.